Cool Weird Awesome with Brady Carlson

Today is the traditional start of the holiday shopping season, and it's the day the Slinky, which has been given as a gift countless times over the years, first became a phenomenon, even though it was invented by accident. Plus: it's been about 50 years since wild turkeys returned to New Hampshire, and it was all part of a wildlife trade with West Virginia!  Slinky (Encyclopedia of Greater Ph...

It really happened! On Thanksgiving 2008, a float in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade came to a halt, there was a record scratch, and none other than Rick Astley came out to perform "Never Gonna Give You Up." Plus: a pianist in Thailand is never going to give up his very unusual audience.  An Oral History of Rickrolling (Mel Magazine) History of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade (I LOVE NY...

This week marks two years since the end of a lawsuit over who had the world record in car sales! Not that we're short on stories these days about people disputing numbers. Plus: if you want a calmer story, how about this one about an artist who makes ornate sculptures from apples?  5 Guinness World Records Controversies (Mental Floss) Lawsuits dropped over car sales record; Guinness opts to n...

Today in 1969 Apollo 12 touched down on earth after landing on the moon, and if the stories are true, it brought with it a tiny tile containing line drawings by six Earth artists. Plus: since most of us aren't likely to visit the art installation on the lunar surface, maybe we can visit this museum in the Florida Keys that goes below the surface of the water.  The Most Exclusive Museum in the...

Today in 1889, inventor Louis Glass moved his "nickel-in-a-slot" into a saloon in San Francisco, beginning the age of the jukebox and giving the generations without smartphones and streaming services the chance to push a button and listen to a song. Plus: Chris Nikic has just become the first person with Down syndrome to finish an Ironman triathlon. How the Jukebox Got Its Groove (Popular Mechanic...

On this day in 1973, the Who's drummer, Keith Moon, collapsed and had to be taken to the hospital. Amazingly, the band chose a 19 year old from the crowd, Scot Halpin, to fill in for the rest of the show. Plus: this year's Pasadena Doo Dah Parade isn't just irreverent, it's irreverent and virtual!  The Hoosier That Rescued the World’s Biggest Band (Orange Bean Indiana) Pasadena Doo Dah Parade...

Robot roadside assistance? Toyota has applied for a patent for a system where self-driving drones could pull up to vehicles and give them some gas - or, if it runs on electricity, give it a charge. Plus: when you need to get a donor organ from one part of Italy to another, what do you do? Turn to a Lamborghini, of course.  Toyota Patent Shows Self-Driving Drone Tankers for Car-to-Car Rechargi...

Scientists have determined that the Greenland shark lives longer than any known invertebrate, up to 400 years. How? We don't know, but it sure does seem chill about it. Plus: UK-based artist Sue Austin developed an underwater wheelchair, making the wide, wide sea a lot more accessible.  A Greenland Shark Living Today Could Have Been Alive in 1620 (HowStuffWorks) A Specially Adapted Underwater...

On National Take A Hike Day, we salute Emma "Grandma" Gatewood, who, in her 60s, became the first woman to hike the entire Appalachian Trail. Plus: on National Homemade Bread Day, we salute Pham Thi Bac's enormous bread loaves in Vietnam.  Ohio’s Most Famous Hiker––Emma “Grandma” Gatewood (Ohio History) The Great-Grandma Who Changed the AT Forever (Outside Online) Vietnamese Province Attracts...

The man known as the Father of the Blues, W.C. Handy, was born on this day in 1873, and it's not exaggerating to say rock and popular music wouldn't have played out the same way without him. Plus: if you have the blues because your cat keeps waking you up in the night, you may want to check out this new cat-friendly bedframe.  W.C. Handy (AllMusic) W.C. Handy, Father of the Blues (Library of...

If you're an astronaut, way up there in space, chances are you started the day with a song. Why? It's a NASA tradition. Plus: an artist in California has turned "Star Trek" into a widescreen format, so it fits on modern TVs.  For decades, NASA has woken up its astronauts with music (The World) Paul McCartney Sings To Space Crew (CBS News) The Final Frontier (Futility Closet) Every time I thin...

Fuel cells need a catalyst for an important reaction, and a team at American University has found that spinach may be the best raw material for a catalyst we've found yet. Plus: ever wanted to smell like old books? A new scent can help make it happen!  Spinach: Good for Popeye and the Planet (American University) Powell's Books creates unisex fragrance that smells like old books (Geekologie)...

We've dedicated statues, memorial walls, works of art, plaques, flags, bridges, roads and more to those who have served in the military. Here's the story of a living memorial in New York's Central Park to women who gave their lives while serving in World War I, that was almost forgotten over decades and generations, and how it was rediscovered in our time. Women in World War I (TheWorldWar.org) Tr...

An inventor in Florida has invented a robot that can put contact lenses in human eyes safety and effectively. This could be a big help to people with neurological disorders or tremors who might not otherwise be able to put those lenses in themselves. Plus: meet an online fluid simulator that's like watching really trippy ripples in a groovy pond.  This Florida man invented a robot that insert...

Today in 1843, former president John Quincy Adams joined thousands to dedicate a public observatory in Cincinnati, a building known as "the birthplace of American astronomy." Plus: this month would be a good time to get out a telescope, cause there's lots happening in the night sky.   How Cincinnati became the 'Birthplace of American Astronomy' (Cincinnati Enquirer)  See Meteor Show...

Bats use their own internal radar - echolocation - to figure out where insects are so they can swoop in and catch their meal. But a study out of Johns Hopkins University shows that how bats track their prey is more complicated than we thought. Plus: today in 2008, music fans named a certain pop and internet legend the Best Act Ever. Hearing the Future (Johns Hopkins University) MTV EMAs name Rick...

Earth makes lots of seismic noise, but there's one that's mysterious - a slight pulse every 26 seconds called a microseism off the coast of West Africa. What causes it? We don't know! Plus: NASA has completed its transmitter upgrades and now it can talk with Voyager 2 again!  The Earth Is Pulsating Every 26 Seconds, and Seismologists Don't Agree Why (Discover) After months of silence, Voyager...

It's National Candy Day, and the day after Election Day, so let's visit the back row of the U.S. Senate chamber, where, for over half a century, senators have kept a desk drawer filled with candy to share with colleagues. Plus: in Japan, candy is also fine art, thanks to the practice of amezaiku , or sculpting molten sugar syrup.  The History Of The Senate’s Sweet Candy Desk (DCist) Reviving...

On this Election Day, here’s a story about an early and not-too-well-known effort to help count votes that came from none other than Thomas Edison. Plus: photographer Ryan Donnell has been documenting some of the most unusual polling places in the country.  Thomas Edison’s First Patented Invention—a Voting Machine for Congress—Was a Total Flop (Mental Floss) Ryan Donnell: Polling Places (Wond...

If you're taking part in National Novel Writing Month, then here's a tip: don't forget the dedication page. They can be full of surprises, as we discovered in quite a few books. Plus: meet the prehistoric pelagornithid, probably the largest flying bird ever, with a 20 foot wingspan and teeth.  Brilliant Book Dedications (Sad and Useless) Scientists Reveal What May Be the Largest Flying Bird E...

In some areas, Halloween festivities actually start the night before October 31, on a night that goes by a few very unusual names. Plus: how about an unusual lollipop that's far off the beaten trick-or-treating path?  Mischief Night? Cabbage Night? Goosey Night? What does it all mean? (NJ.com) Blue Cheese Lollipops (Lolliphile) Joining us as a Patreon backer is all treats, no tricks

Composting can turn some of our food waste back into useful stuff, but it can take a while. A new device out of Germany aims to cut the time it takes to go from food waste to compost to just 48 hours. Plus: on this National Cat Day, we salute the very tiny but impressive Cat Museum in Krakow, Poland.  Kitchen gadget converts food scraps to compost in a claimed 48 hours (New Atlas) Poland Is H...

We’re not the only species that knows the difference between a face-to-face chat and a remote one. Research out of Vienna shows cows prefer live human voices to recorded ones. Plus: on National Chocolate Day, we pay a visit to the world's largest chocolate moose, in Scarborough, Maine.  Cows prefer to co-moo-nicate in person, research suggests (CNN) Lenny the Moose - The World's Only Life-Siz...

A project out of MIT is using artificial intelligence to scan lost languages and find rules and conventions that may help us figure out what all those words from years ago might mean. Plus: historic signs in South Nyack, New York are using QR codes to tell us something timeless - a message that's never gonna give us up. MIT CSAIL’s AI revives dead languages it hasn’t seen before (VentureBeat) Rick...

Scientists at Purdue University have a way to help keep us cool to the point that we might not even need air conditioning, and all it takes is a fresh coat of a special paint. Plus: the town of Asbestos, Quebec has finally chosen a new name! New 'Super-White' Paint Can Cool Down Buildings and Cars (Interesting Engineering)  Goodbye Asbestos, hello Val-des-Sources: Que. town changing infamous...